HEINEKEN CUP Wasps 19 Leinster 12 Attendance 33,282A DVD of this desultory, disjointed affair should be despatched forthwith to the IRB's working party who came up with the ELVs; to the IRB chief of referees, Paddy O'Brien, in Invercargill; to the board's headquarters in St Stephen's Green, and to every lawmaker along the way. They should be forced to watch not once, but several times. Why shouldn't they suffer more than the rest of us?
Almost everything that is wrong with the modern game was encapsulated here: endless bouts of moonballing as two sides struggling for potency tried to avoid playing any rugby in their half; and there were even uncontested scrums for most of the game.
It seems such were the narrow margins in Pool Two, the sides understood the huge significance of Leinster obtaining a bonus point in defeat, because a sort of stalemate, albeit a taut one, ensued for much of the second period.
To a large extent, you couldn’t blame the teams, and indeed it was Leinster’s decision to break with the percentage grip on the game by twice running ball inside their 10-metre line which led to Wasps’ two three-pointers in the last quarter.
Both times Shane Horgan and Isa Nacewa tried to free their hands in the tackle only to turn over possession, and from the resultant Wasps pressure penalties were conceded, which Danny Cipriani and Dave Walder landed either side of one by Felipe Contepomi.
Ironically, though, it became clear that not all the players had much appreciation of the potentially huge ramifications of Leinster staying within seven points of Wasps.
So it was that Phil Vickery decreed that Walder took the final three-pointer, which made no difference to the standings save for insuring against an unlikely Leinster win at that late juncture – and left Leinster ahead by dint of the sides’ head-to-head record.
Eoin Reddan still didn’t know the exact standings almost an hour after the full-time whistle, though it transpired that Shaun Edwards – albeit in seemingly a minority – wanted Wasps to go for the corner and seek the try that would have put them atop Pool 2 heading into the final round of matches.
It also transpired that Leinster’s players weren’t too cognisant of the ramifications of this result either, as Rob Kearney kept the ball in play with a kick downfield and subsequently they ran the ball back at Wasps.
All of which was in keeping with a somewhat muddled evening and another curate’s egg of a performance by Leinster which, being Leinster, was almost predictable.
Nacewa is a wonderful athlete, strong as an ox, pacey and elusive with a good passing game and superb offloading abilities but, as feared, his kicking game practically invited Wasps into the match – his overcooked, opening up-and-under constituting warm-up practice and inviting Mark van Gisbergen into the match.
It didn’t help, mind, that Leinster’s chasing was almost half-hearted and hopelessly ineffective, not least when conceding the game’s only try.
It was also fitting that Josh Lewsey – the one player consistently willing to have a go – was the orchestrator-in-chief, running back Nacewa’s kick through a huge gap between Shane Horgan and Leo Cullen, who slipped, and veering inside a non-existent second tier to run crossfield and link with three team-mates. Paul Sackey handed off Brian O’Driscoll, who went too high, and was missed by Luke Fitzgerald before Serge Betsen followed up to score after George Skivington was held up short.
Such was Leinster’s concession of territory, poor scrum, bad kicking and, worse, chasing that the initial damage could have been worse than 10-0, but Cipriani missed two kickable penalties. They also withstood all manner of potentially crippling disruptions thereafter as CJ van der Linde and Cullen soon departed in quick succession, to be followed before half-time by Stan Wright, while Rob Kearney was ridiculously sinbinned at the behest of touchjudge Jean-Luc Rebollal as, fortunately, was Malcolm O’Kelly, for he could have been red-carded for his stamp on Vickery’s head.
Betsen’s propensity for tripping – in this he’s a serial offender – for which he too was yellow-carded. lightened the latter two blows. Furthermore, the arrival of the mobile Cian Healy and Seán O’Brien as “prop” replacements and the lack of contested scrums undoubtedly benefited Leinster, while Trevor Hogan also made a strong impact off the bench.
Tellingly, a strong kick and chase by Kearney and a decent touchfinder by Nacewa led to a brace of penalties by Contepomi, and a superbly forceful and elusive run by the outhalf enabled the Puma to make it 13-9 at the break – a result in the circumstances.
To their credit, Leinster dug deep to stay within a score thereafter, and their confidence in keeping the ball in hand grew. Given the way the game’s psychic energy was flowing in the final quarter, they could have extracted an even bigger dividend but for Contepomi undoing an exacting 18-phase attack by missing an eminently kickable penalty. This featured one stunning line and break by Healy, though that apart, they hardly ever looked like scoring a try.
But one couldn’t fault the sheer physical effort they put in – typified by the tireless O’Driscoll. To have lost three of their tight five in the first half, including their captain and line-out caller, suffer two yellow cards and recover from a 10-0 deficit away from home to earn a bonus point and remain top of the group was a truly gritty and praiseworthy effort.
It’s the sins of their games against Castres which has left them so precariously placed.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 10 mins: Cipriani pen 3-0; 15: Betsen try, Cipriani con 10-0; 20: Contepomi pen 10-3; 22: Cipriani pen 13-3; 33: Contepomi pen 13-6; 40: Contepomi pen 13-9; (half-time 13-9); 60: Cipriani pen 16-9; 62: Contepomi pen 16-12; 80: Walder pen 19-12.
LONDON WASPS: M van Gisbergen; P Sackey, D Waldouck, R Flutey, J Lewsey; D Cipriani, E Reddan; T Payne, R Webber, P Vickery (capt), G Skivington, R Birkett, J Worsley, S Betsen, J Haskell. Replacements: J Ward for Webber (30-40 mins), D Leo for Payne, T Voyce for Waldouck (both 65 mins), D Walder for Cipriani (71 mins), J Simpson for Reddan (80 mins). Not used: T French, H Ellis. Sinbinned: Betsen (33-43 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, C Whitaker; S Wright, B Jackman, CJ Van Der Linde, L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly, R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: C Healy for van der Linde, T Hogan for Cullen (both 18 mins), S O'Brien for Wright (38 mins), G D'Arcy for O'Driscoll (56-61 mins), and for Horgan (61 mins), J Fogarty for Jackman (74 mins), G Dempsey for Nacewa (80 mins). Not used: C Keane. Sinbinned: Kearney (26-36 mins), O'Kelly (37-47 mins).
Referee: Christophe Berdos (France).
